Shiv-Shakti – The Divine Couple

Two great events which involved destruction are also the most important events which bring us closer to Shiva and Shakti. Shiva without Shakti is a Shava (dead body) and Shakti without Shiva is meaningless. If one were to restrict our understanding to our mind, one would feel that both are equally capable of existing alone – but when we learn to unravel and understand existence, we get a glimpse of how the two are One. This is exactly what our Navratras are about; outwardly we think that it is a festival of only Devi (Shakti) but when we see how She blossoms from Shailputri to Durga, we realise that Her existence has Shiva woven into every aspect of Her.

As the story of the Shaktipeethas goes, Daksha was a staunch devotee of MahaVishnu to the extent that he refused to acknowledge Mahadev completely. His daughter Sati fell in love with Shiva and insisted on marrying only Him. Grudgingly Daksha married Her off to Shiva, but he refused to accord Shiva the respect deserved by a son-in-law who was also the Supreme One. To insult his son-in-law, Daksha has a Yagna where he invites and offers Ahuti to every Devata but not to Mahadev and this affects Sati so much that She immolates Herself in the Yagna-kund. Mahadev sends Veerabhadra to decapitate Daksha and on the prayers of the other Devatas to revive Daksha so that the Yagna could be completed, Shiva allows a goat-head to be put on the body of Daksha and revives him. Then He roams around the universe with Sati’s charred body till such time as MahaVishnu’s Sudarshan Chakra doesn’t cut the charred remains of Sati into many pieces which fall in various places in BharatVarsha. These places where the body pieces fell are today known as Shakti-peethas where Maa is worshipped in all Her splendor. This is the first story of destruction – Sati’s self-immolation which resulted in Her Bhakti all over the country and brought Her devotees closer to Her and Shiva.

Thousands of years later, Parvati who is Sati in a subsequent life, does severe Tapas (meditation) to attain Shiva as Her husband. Shiva seemingly refuses to acknowledge Parvati’s desire and stays immune to her beauty, charms and devotion. Again, all the Devatas get worried because Tarakasura’s death has been foretold to take place by their offspring Skanda and if Shiva were to not “desire” Parvati, how could Skanda be born? They send Kama and Rati to disturb the Tapasya of Shiva and make Him look at Parvati with longing to be one with Her. Kama succeeds in doing this, but only for a moment and the next minute he is burnt to ashes by Shiva opening His third eye with anger. Parvati gets disturbed by this and She goes into even more intense Tapasya till Shiva agrees to wed her. After the marriage, when all the Devi-Devatas assemble in front of Shiva and Parvati, they notice that the ashes of Madana are still there. Chitraketu makes a small doll of the ashes and it comes to life. But because the ashes were formed by a combination of Kama’s arrogance (that he could disturb the Tapasya of Shiva) and Mahadev’s anger, it becomes an Asura. He asks for a boon from Shiva that if anyone challenges him to a battle, half of that person’s strength should go to him and that he should not be killed by any man. On hearing these words, Brahma says, “Bhanda, Bhand” in despair and worry and this asura created from the ashes of Kama is called Bhandasura. This very Asura and his Sena (warriors) are destroyed by Lalita Tripurasundari and Her child Bala and other Shaktis. At the end of this war between Lalita Tripurasundari and Bhandasura, Her various Shaktis recite Her thousand names and adore Her. Till today, lakhs of ladies (and gents) chant this Lalita Sahasranamavalli during the Navratras and seek Her blessings, thus making Her a part of every household celebrating Navrati.

Two catastrophic events resulted in Shiva and Shakti being adored and worshipped even more, by Hindus all over the world. The common thread in both these events is destruction of Ahamkar or Ego and the play of Shiva and Shakti in making us realise this. Shiva is Ashutosh – He blesses in seconds, but the slightest of ego makes Him angry and He blesses only after destroying that ego. Shakti can destroy everything to protect Her devotees, but She will do so only after making Herself pure in the Agni of Tapasya, thus making us aware of the importance of Tapasya before offering oneself to the Divine.

Our ShaktiPeethas remind us again and again of the flaws in us humans who rarely try to conquer Ahamkar and the feeling of invincibility presuming that we are the most powerful ones. One of the best examples of this is JwalaMukhi ShaktiPeetha in the Kangra District of Himachal Pradesh, where the Jyot (flames) is burning for thousands and thousands of years. There is no Vigraha here which is worshipped. She is worshipped in the form of the flames itself and the nine flames represent the different forms of Mata Saraswati, Annapurna, Chandi, Hinglaj, Vindhyavasini, Mahalaxmi, Mahakali, Ambika, and Anjana. One of the well-known stories of this ShaktiPeetha is that Akbar tried to douse the flames by covering them with a sheath. The flames burned even brighter and Akbar, with a false show of modesty, offered a gold Chattra (umbrella) to Maa. Maa did not accept his gift and the gold got converted miraculously into some unknown metal which was considered worthless. This is displayed till today in the Temple premises. Arrogance and a show of wealth don’t impress the Divine Mother. What touches Her is simple, true devotion to Her and selfless help to fellow creatures and Nature.

Let us always remember that both Shiva and Shakti are One and only true Bhakti and Vinayata (Humility) can help us attain Their lotus feet.